Black Mountain

Wild Duck Theatre

OSO Arts Centre - 19 July 2018

Chill on the Hill

Black Mountain

by Brad Birch

Wild Duck Theatre Company at OSO Arts Centre until19th July

Review by Melissa Syversen

A friend once told me that in East Asian countries, summer is horror-season. The idea is that the chilling sensation that ghosts, horrors and thrillers can illicit down one’s spine will help counteract the oppressive, humid heat of summer. So, as we continue to endure this remarkable heat wave, Wild Duck’s new production Black Mountain was a good opportunity to test this theory for myself.

Black Mountain is a one-act psychological thriller in the vein of Gone Girl with a dash of Fatal Attraction. We meet a man named Paul and a woman named Rebecca. Together they have rented a hidaway in the mountains. It is not immediately clear what their relationship is, but there is an obvious tension between them and they sleep in separate rooms in the house. As the play goes on, we realise that they are a couple going through a hard time following infidelity on the part of Paul. In hopes of a reconciliation, he has taken Rebecca to Black Mountain so that they can talk and work things out together. Rebecca, however, is not as optimistic as her partner as she still struggles to be near him and can’t help but treat him with anger and disdain rooted in the pain he has caused her. An extra wrench is thrown into Paul’s plans, however, when Helen, the woman with whom he had the affair, shows up in the night to talk. She claims that for her to get closure following their relationship she needs more answers. I do not wish to give away too much of the plot but during Rebecca and Paul’s stay strange things begin to happen in and around the house …